Kloster Marienkamp

The former Augustinian convent of Marienkamp stood on the edge of Dinslaken’s old town, its walls enclosing a complete working monastery. The site stretched between three modern streets and was bounded by high brick walls and the diverted channels of the Rotbach stream. A late-Gothic chapel with a small bell tower formed the heart of the complex, surrounded by farm buildings, a brewery, laundry yards and kitchen gardens. Founded in the 15th century, Marienkamp supported a community of lay sisters who ran a small hospital and school. By the late 17th century the community’s finances had declined, and in 1808 the convent was dissolved. The buildings passed through several owners until the chapel was bought by the Jewish community, who converted it into a synagogue in the 19th century. The building served the congregation until it was destroyed during the 1938 pogrom. Today a single commemorative plaque on a modern car park marks the former cloister. The outline of the high walls can still be traced in the alignment of the streets, and the Rotbach channels remain visible along the southern edge. Visitors walk past ordinary shopfronts and parked cars, unaware that beneath the tarmac lie the foundations of a five-hundred-year-old religious and social centre.